Dawson College
EN-7: Employee Educators Program

The program is taught by Dawson employees to their peers in various work sectors. Support staff and professionals form one group, faculty another and managers have also formed a group. All had the opportunity to join a session (mangers had to approve presence of their employees during work time). Each group has specific considerations (i.e. schedules, content, actions) which are catered too. Sustainable Happiness (SH) covers all aspects of sustainability and how it influences happiness as part of well-being. The program involves a pay-it-forward portion as part of the certification which involves still more college employees as certificate participants use their acquired knowledge of SH to develop a project that creates positive action in the community. Participants give workshops, presentations, help integrate SH topics into curricula with, or to, peers (project examples: conference workshops on SH, gratitude activities, workshops on reducing the carbon footprint of meals, GHG inventories, biophilic office changes, compassion workshops, SH introduction presentations). This helps scale the impact of the program throughout the academic year.

After a College wide invitation, employees can apply with a cover letter mentioning their interest and how the college could benefit from their participation. A selection committee of three people then vets the applications within a week and notifies employees of their decision. If participation rates are capped, a wait list is immediately created to accommodate those interested at a future date.

Participants follows readings, Journal questions, video presentations, values clarification exercises, and peer feedback weekly. Group chat rooms and feedback sessions via team platforms are also now used. Sharing sustainability-related knowledge, ideas and experience is an integral component of the program. Once a college staff participant finishes the SH Facilitator Training, they can teach the 20 hour SH Certificate program to others. Consequently, every SH certificate participant receives 20 hrs of support and background information before implementing their community project or presenting to their peers. In the 2019-20 academic year, trained facilitators taught sessions to staff and a separate Dawson management group (open to all), with peer-to-peer sessions scheduled and booked for the 2020-21 year. A community of practice is formed with facilitator members to share best practices and further develop the program.

In 2019 the HR dept. and Sustainability Office shared the approximate $20,000 training fees of the last cohort of staff. The Sustainability Office supports the Sustainable Happiness programming with staffing - approx. 150 hrs. The objective is to scale this will be scaled to 400 hrs in 2020.

Any Dawson employee can apply to take a 6 month Sustainable Happiness Facilitators Training Program. A 120 page training guide has been written and each participant follows readings, video presentations, and peer presentations weekly. Trained facilitators teach the 20 hour SH certificate to peers to build awareness, review current sustainability principles, review positive psychology and the connection of both to happiness and well-being. This is connected to the College mission and vision (Well-being for All, Sustainably) and rich discussions are facilitated about supporting each other on a journey to plan and implement a project that gives back to the community. Facilitators activities include participating in a community of practice of fellow facilitators, guiding individual participant projects for the community and integrating the SH philosophy through workshops in their various departments (e.g. Quality Assurance, HR, Office of Academic Development) to further raise awareness and skills about practicing SH both personally and professionally. Facilitators give workshops to their peers within departments with more theory in current sustainability research, psychological concepts, and the causes of non-sustainable behavior within society. What is SH?: https://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/sustainable/sustainable-happiness/ SH Certificate: https://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/sustainable/sustainable-happiness/who-are-you/staff/

After a College-wide invitation to SH certificate holders, employees can apply with a cover letter mentioning their interest and how their dept. and the college can benefit from their participation. A selection committee of three people then vets the applications and notifies employees of their decision. If participation rates are capped, a wait list is immediately created to accommodate those interested at a future date. SH Facilitators teach the 20 hr SH Certificate to peers who then teach their peers.

Trained facilitators take a 6 month Sustainable Happiness Facilitators Training Program. A 120 page training guide has been written and each participant follows readings, video presentations, and peer presentations weekly. Group chat rooms and feedback sessions are an integral component of the program. Once a college staff participant finishes the facilitator training, they can teach the program to their peers (managers to managers, support staff to support staff, faculty to faculty). In the 2019-20 academic year, trained facilitators taught sessions to staff and a separate Dawson management group (open to all), with peer-to-peer sessions scheduled and booked for the 2020-21 academic year. A community of practice is formed with SH facilitator members to share best practices and further develop the peer-to-peer learning program. Every two weeks, methods, knowledge and trouble-shooting issues (e.g. group management, scheduling, use of recent research).

Facilitators are supported by the College HR department and the Sustainability Office, outside of their personal professional development fund envelope. In 2020, as SH expands at the College, coordination for the SH Facilitators and the administration of the SH certificate program is approximately $45,000/yr.

Living Campus tours and projects - all employees are invited to participate in over 50 sustainability office on projects throughout the year in 2019. This involves workshops, team-teaching, practical lab work, regular meetings re curricula, UN SDG integration, and training in current sustainability accomplishments so tours can be given for internal and external groups by peers. Support staff, professionals, managers and teachers are all targeted. Some activities that involve the Living Campus concept target the entire community and other programs are specific to employment groups (i.e. support staff or teachers) with designated people from each employment sector having leadership positions. Meditation and Yoga are offered free to staff daily with meditation offered by peers.

SH activities in 2020: 1. Active Community of Practice - meets 2x per month 2. Two student SH Certificate programs 3. SH Workshops for managers 4. SH Certificate for Support Staff 5. SH Certificate for neighboring college 6. SH Certificate for national organization (Ottawa) 7. Six SH facilitator presentations (conferences, webinars, keynotes)